Musicians Are People Too

Another camera in my face
Another hand around my waist
Don’t even know you
– Panic Room, “Freedon to Breathe”

A very insightful post by HippyDave on when fan entitlement goes bad, specifically the backlash faced by Floor Jansen from South American fans when she dared to make some polite requests about boundaries. Some of the quoted fan posts are quite scary, and it’s notable that half of them are from women.

I’m wondering how much this is a South American thing, stemming from differing cultural expectations, and reminded of the recent story about Avril Lavigne stipulating a three-foot separation between her and fans for photos at a meet-and-greet she was charging hundreds of pounds for, because she’d been groped by a fan on a previous South American tour.

That might even explain where the ridiculous-seeming accusations of racism are coming from, but that might just be an excuse for bad behaviour that’s not confined to one part of the world.

As a gig photographer who’s photographed Floor Jansen from the pit, I completely agree about flash photography. It’s bloody annoying, and if you have a half-decent camera you don’t need it anyway.